(57) An automated fiber lay-up machine for the fabrication of reticulated structures comprising
an upper carriage (12) which carries a fibrous material handling system (14), including
a source of resin (78), and a lower carriage (44) which carries a fiber laying head
(46). The upper and lower carriages each have a selected number of degrees of freedom
of movement to allow positioning of the fibrous material handling system and the fiber
laying head. Means (20, 32, 50, 60, 113) are provided to move and control the motion
of the upper and lower carriages. The movement of the upper carriage is slaved to
the movement of the lower carriage to allow the fibrous material handling system to
dispense the fibrous material to the fiber laying head. The fiber laying head can
rotate to provide an extra degree of freedom and can also be independently moved normal
to a work surface. The resin is applied directly to the fiber laying head concomitant
with the fibrous material, while the fiber laying head is adapted to lay the fibrous
material flat on the work surface.
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